CHARLOTTE — More than 1,000 people packed St. Gabriel Church in Charlotte to capacity Nov. 21 during the Vigil Mass to pay tribute to their beloved pastor, Father Frank O'Rourke, who celebrated his 40th anniversary of priestly ordination Nov. 23.
Father O'Rourke was ordained by the late Bishop Michael J. Begley, the first bishop of the Diocese of Charlotte, at St. Ann Church for the Feast of Christ the King Sunday, Nov. 23, 1975. Father O'Rourke is one of the first 10 priests ordained to serve the Charlotte diocese since it was established Jan. 12, 1972.
Father O'Rourke began his homily with words of gratitude to God for his priestly vocation: "I do feel called, chosen by the Lord. As the Scriptures said, 'set apart to proclaim God's greatness.' I'm grateful today to say that I've experienced that being called and chosen, as I recognized that this call is for all of us, (and) that we are humbled to be called in joining Jesus in proclaiming the
Pictured: Father Frank O'Rourke, (center) is pictured with (from left) Deacons Michael Goad and Mark King; Father Fidel Melo, Vicar for Hispanic Ministry and priest in residence at St. Gabriel Church; Deacon Mark Diener; Monsignor John McSweeney, pastor of St. Matthew Church in Charlotte; Father Ed Sheridan, retired; Father Gabriel Carvajal-Salazar, parochial vicar; and Deacons Larry O'Toole and Ben Wenning. (Photos by Cesar Hurtado, Catholic News Herald)
greatness of Our Heavenly Father."
Father O'Rourke invited people present during his ordination at St. Ann Church 40 years ago, and St. Gabriel parishioners since 1976, to bring up the offertory gifts during a Nov. 21 Mass celebrating his 40th anniversary of ordination.Father O'Rourke did a little "show and tell" using the church's wall projector, showing pictures from his parents' wedding. "For it's out of marriage and love that I've been nurtured... and our family was created," he said, his voice breaking a bit and fighting grateful tears.
Concelebrating the Mass were Father Edward Sheridan, former long-time St. Gabriel pastor; Monsignor John McSweeney, pastor of St. Matthew Church in Charlotte; Father Fidel Melo, Vicar of Hispanic Ministry, and priest in residence at St. Gabriel Church; and Father Gabriel Carvajal-Salazar, St. Gabriel's parochial vicar.
During his homily, Father O'Rourke also acknowledged his long-time friendship with Father Sheridan and Monsignor McSweeney, and he showed some pictures of them through the years. Then at the end of the homily, Monsignor McSweeney put an ordination stole on Father O'Rourke as s a symbolic moment from his ordination 40 years ago. A St. Ann's parishioner had made the stole for Father O'Rourke's ordination in 1975.
Originally from Philadelphia, Pa., Father O'Rourke attended seminary at Holy Apostles Seminary College in Cromwell, Conn., and earned his Master in Divinity from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. His first priestly assignment was at St. Gabriel Church in Charlotte in January 1976. Then he was appointed pastor of St. Benedict the Moor Church in Winston-Salem, where he served from 1979 to 1981. He subsequently served at five other parishes in the diocese before returning to St. Gabriel Church in 2007.
"I can honestly say that I have been greatly blessed by all the parishes I have served: St. Ann, St. Gabriel, St. Benedict the Moor (in) Winston-Salem, St. John Neumann, St. Patrick, Holy Family (in) Clemmons, Our Lady of Grace (in) Greensboro – and returning full circle to St. Gabriel," he said during a recent interview. "Going full circle and returning to St. Gabriel has been a blessing, as I find myself being pastor of people I have baptized, given First Communion, married, etc., who are now, like me, 40 years older! St. Gabriel at this time in my life blesses me abundantly. This is a parish alive with people of faith who know, love and serve the Lord in celebrating the sacraments of the Church and putting faith into action through reaching out to others in many generous and gracious ways."
In his priestly ministry, Father O'Rourke most enjoys passing on the faith, which he considers a privilege. "This is lived out in the celebration of the sacraments and in the many ways I share the journey with people. For sure, celebrating the Eucharist is both a humbling and enriching experience. Partaking of the Bread of Life and sharing it with others keeps faith alive."
He said one of the biggest lessons he has learned over the past 40 years as a priest is, "No one tiptoes through the tulips of life. Our humanity has us sharing joys and sorrows, successes and failures, pleasures and pain, darkness and light. As a priest, I share the journey of life in faith with others in a most unique relationship that calls for a trust that God is with us. What a privilege.
"How blessed I am to be a priest, to be a pastor, for it puts me in a very unique and intimate relationship with brothers and sisters who, like me, hope to find ways to keep the flame of faith alive."
— Rico De Silva, Hispanic Communications Reporter
Asim Basara left behind war, bombs and most of his family when he, his wife and their children fled their home in war-torn Daraa, Syria.
Three weeks ago, they arrived in the United States – finally safe, grateful to be able to rebuild their lives after four years of living in fear and uncertainty.
The Basara family is the first of what is expected to be many Syrian refugees that Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte expects to welcome over the coming months and years.
With the help of a member of the local Syrian community acting as an interpreter, Mayada Idlibi, Basara recounted how he was forced to abandon his home in 2011 out of fear for his life and the safety of his family.
"I'm sad to leave my family behind in Syria, but I hope to find in the United States safety to raise and educate my children," Basara said.
As the Arab Spring unfolded throughout the Middle East and north Africa in late 2010, opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad grew – finally erupting in violence in March 2011 in the Basaras' hometown of Daraa. Dozens were killed in the subsequent security crackdown, provoking protests that spread to other parts of Syria. Things got worse after his brother Zeyad was tortured and killed by the Syrian regime in 2012, Basara said.
Pictured: Members of the Basara family are greeted at the Charlotte airport by interpreter Mayada Idlibi upon their arrival last month. (Photo provided by Kathleen Durkin, Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte)
Now, five years later, tens of thousands of refugees are trying to escape what has become a brutal civil war – with an estimated 5,000 people leaving daily. So far, 4.1 million Syrians have fled the country and another 6.5 million have been internally displaced. Exact numbers are impossible to know, but in January the United Nations estimated the number of deaths in the conflict at 220,000 – including 13,155 in Daraa.
Many of the refugees are facing hardships as they make their way to safety, and Pope Francis has called on dioceses and churches to respond by taking in refugee families.
For several weeks, the phone at Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte has been ringing with questions and offers of help.
Cira Ponce, director of Catholic Charities' Refugee Resettlement Office, said they have received a growing number of calls from local churches and individuals, both Catholic and non-Catholic, wanting to know how they can help. Until now, Catholic Charities had not received any Syrian refugees, as the U.S. government screening process for Middle Eastern refugees is typically slow. To date, the U.S. has accepted only about 1,600 refugees, but the Obama administration has pledged to accept tens of thousands more.
So, Ponce said, her office received news of the Basara family's arrival last month with excitement and anticipation. The federal government approved the family's asylum request more quickly than usual, she noted, because they had been sheltering in Jordan for the past three years.
"They were fortunate enough to have been processed and approved for resettlement overseas earlier than the majority of other Syrian families," she said.
Catholic Charities resettles about 360 refugees, who come from all over the world, to the Charlotte area each year. Over the past 40 years, the diocese has resettled approximately 15,000 refugees from 27 different countries. The resettlement work is a partnership among Catholic Charities, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the U.S. State Department.
Through the USCCB, dioceses around the country may resettle up to 25 percent of the new refugees expected from the Syrian civil war, Ponce said.
For Basara and his family, the past five years have been filled with uncertainty. He was forced to abandon his grocery store in Daraa when they fled to Saudi Arabia. There, he worked at an oil change shop to make ends meet and provide for his family. After a blood clot in one of his legs prevented him from working at the shop anymore, Basara said, the family tried returning to Syria, but the intensifying civil war made that impossible.
So they moved to Jordan, where putting food on the table became even more of a struggle, Basara recalled. The family was just one among thousands of refugees crowded into the small nation, all struggling to survive, with few prospects for a stable job or permanent home.
"Not many people would like to hire you over there," explained Idlibi, the family's interpreter. "They know you are a refugee sometimes and you are not stable. You might be here today and gone tomorrow. Plus, there are a lot of people moving to Jordan – not much they can offer."
The Basaras are Muslims, but that does not matter to Catholic Charities, which serves families regardless of their faith, ethnicity or race. And to Asim Basara, it doesn't matter, either.
"We are all brothers. It's a beautiful feeling," he said, adding that before the war erupted, Syrian Christians, Jews and Muslim neighbors "always lived in peace."
Ashir Haji-Mohamed, a Catholic Charities case worker supervisor, picked up the family at the Charlotte airport Oct. 28 and put them up in a hotel for a week until they were able to move into an apartment. With the help of Catholic Charities, the local Syrian community furnished the apartment for them and will continue to help the family adjust to life in a new country.
"We'll be helping them until they become self-sufficient, finding jobs and everything," Haji-Mohamed said.
The Basaras' three oldest children, an 8-year-old daughter and 6-year-old twin girls, have already enrolled in elementary school, while the two youngest, a 4-year-old boy and an 8-month-old baby, remain at home.
Arriving in the United States has been a happy but bittersweet turn in their lives, Basara said. "We were so happy to come to America, and this happiness was stronger than the pain of leaving my mom and brothers behind."
Bicycles were delivered Nov. 11 for the children thanks to the local Syrian community. (Photo by Rico De Silva, Catholic News Herald)The 25 or so families that comprise the close-knit Syrian community in Charlotte have provided a welcome connection. They have brought food to the family each day and are helping them bridge the language gap, as no one in the family speaks English.
Idlibi has lived in Charlotte since the early 1980s, but her 85-year-old mother still lives in Syria. She expressed admiration and gratitude for the work of Catholic Charities.
"I wish as a Muslim I would be able to do that ... be able to help someone to come. You guys are so lucky that you are able to get that reward from God, that you are to save some families and bring them here," she said.
"It's an amazing, very noble job and I admire you for that."
Life in America has provided a safe haven and better future for his family, as well as the chance for him to find work and restore the dignity that felt lost to them on their refugee journey, Asim Basara said.
Meanwhile, Catholic Charities is gearing up for the arrival of more Syrian refugee families – how many, though, Ponce cannot predict. Translators, case workers, donations and furnishings are all being marshaled so they can be prepared whenever needed. Most importantly, she said, they will be ready to welcome these refugees with smiles and open arms, just as they have done over the past four decades for refugees from other conflict zones around the world.
Editor's note: The names of the refugee family have been changed or omitted to respect their privacy.
— Rico De Silva, Hispanic Communications Reporter. Photos by Kathleen Durkin and Rico De Silva.
How you can help
Cira Ponce is often asked what kind of aid her office needs in resettling the refugees. Financial support gives Catholic Charities the greatest flexibility, she noted. "It covers everything, from going to the airport, to setting up an apartment, to training volunteers."
She added, "We need two- and three-bedroom affordable apartments. We also need furniture – dining tables with chairs, sofas, loveseats and living room chairs, coffee tables, lamps and bedroom furniture – and household items like dishes, cooking supplies (pots, pans, rice cookers). We can also use volunteers who can help with pickup and delivery of donated items."
More information about the needs of Catholic Charities and opportunities for volunteering is online at www.ccdoc.org. Click on the "Donate" or "Volunteer" tab to see all the ways you can assist and welcome refugees.
Monetary donations can be made online or mailed to Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte, 1123 S. Church St., Charlotte, NC 28203.
For inquiries about how you can volunteer or how your parish can sponsor a refugee family, contact Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte at 704-370-3262.
CHARLOTTE — This year parishioners at St. Joseph Vietnamese Church are celebrating 40 years since the first Vietnamese Catholics found refuge in the Diocese of Charlotte, and they are giving thanks in a special way this Thanksgiving holiday.
The diocese welcomed its first Vietnamese refugees in 1975, the year when Saigon fell and the Vietnam War ended.
Since then, many more Vietnamese immigrants have made the journey to settle in western North Carolina, and the Vietnamese Catholic community continues to grow. St. Joseph Church on Sandy Porter Road in southwest Charlotte is home to many of these first- and second-generation immigrant families.
"This year marks 40 years since we first arrived in Charlotte," explained Father Tri Truong, pastor of St. Joseph Church and himself the child of a Vietnamese immigrant. "It is a significant milestone for us on our journey. We have journeyed from a few families in 1975 to over 900 registered families at St. Joseph Church.
"We have journeyed from having Mass once a month at the parishes of St. Ann Church, Our Lady of Consolation Church and Our Lady of the Assumption Church, to having a parish serving the Vietnamese Catholics in the Charlotte area with Mass every day and four Masses on the weekend."
The Vietnamese community has also fostered priestly vocations in the diocese, with five Vietnamese priests ordained for the Diocese of Charlotte.
"We have come so far in our journey, and we are very thankful for what we have," Father Truong said.
On Thursday, Nov. 26, a Mass of Thanksgiving will be offered for this significant milestone.
Before Mass, the parish will also have a procession in honor of the Vietnamese Martyrs. (Editor's note: For details about the Vietnamese Martyrs, see page 2.)
All of the parish choirs will sing and pay tribute to these saints at Mass. A celebration will follow in the parish fellowship hall featuring traditional music, dancing and food.
Vietnamese Catholics can find more information about the annual Thanksgiving celebration and St. Joseph Church at www.giaoxuthanhgiuse.net.
— Catholic News Herald
HIGH POINT — Shortly after the Diocese of Charlotte was established, native Philadelphian and Oblate Father Joe Zuschmidt found himself in Charlotte. The year was 1978 and he was sent to help the young diocese after Bishop Michael J. Begley gave an address at Allentown College in Pennsylvania, asking for help to shepherd his growing flock in western North Carolina.
Father Joe, as he prefers to be called, had been a priest of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales for 13 years at that point. He had entered seminary in Philadelphia immediately after graduating from his Oblate-run high school in 1955.
He speaks candidly about his call to the priesthood.
"I began to wrestle with what I was going to do by the beginning of senior year (in high school)," he recalls. "I wanted to be a part of community and I had a draw to teaching, so I thought of the Christian Brothers, but I didn't stay long with that thought. The Oblates, through their wonderful way, attracted me more and the call to the priesthood became more prominent during that calling."
Pictured: Oblates of St. Francis de Sales Father Joe Zuschmidt, senior priest at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in High Point, is pictured with kindergartners from Immaculate Heart of Mary School in May. (Photo provided by Immaculate Heart of Mary Church
"So I joined the Oblates 10 days after graduation. I was a young 18-year-old kid! I went to the novitiate in Maryland, and for a Philadelphian, going to Maryland was like going to the end of the world back in 1955," he jokes.
As education and teaching are fundamental to the Oblates' mission, Father Joe was assigned a teaching post at an Oblate-run high school in Detroit after earning his undergraduate degree at Niagara University. After two years, he then entered an international exchange program with the Oblates and continued his advanced degree studies in theology in Germany.
Father Joe was ordained to the priesthood in the seminary chapel in Germany on Nov. 20, 1965, by Oblate Bishop Edward Schlotterback, a missionary to southern Africa and the first American Oblate of St. Francis de Sales to be consecrated a bishop. He happened to be in Rome for the Second Vatican Council and traveled to the seminary for the ordination.
"He was an American and an Oblate. I thought it was wonderful that he was able to come up and ordain me. My father was able to come, my sister, and my aunt who was my godmother were also able to come."
For the next 13 years, Father Joe continued his studies and served at an Oblate high school and also at what was formerly known as Allentown College (now De Sales University) in Allentown, Pa., for five years.
After that fateful address by Bishop Begley and his move to Charlotte, Father Joe was assigned to campus ministry at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in July 1978.
"He didn't talk to me, he talked to my superior. All of a sudden, I found myself in Charlotte!" Father Joe says with a laugh.
Father Joe has served under all four bishops of the Diocese of Charlotte since his arrival four decades ago.
"In fact, our present bishop (Bishop Peter J. Jugis), I knew as a student at UNCC when I was a campus minister there. Little did I ever dream that he would be my bishop!" he quips.
He remembers finding a very vibrant faith community after arriving in the diocese – it was new, young, energetic.
In addition to his campus ministry duties, Father Joe also served as the first pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas Church in north Charlotte, which is adjacent to the campus.
He remained active in campus ministry until 1985. After that, he continued to serve as pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas Church, building a second building as the parish expanded.
After a brief sabbatical in 1988, Father Joe was assigned to Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in High Point by then Bishop John F. Donoghue. For the most part, this is where he has served the most since the late 1980s. He was pastor for 10 years, during which time the parish purchased land to build a new church. It was dedicated by Bishop William G. Curlin in February 2002.
From 2003 to 2007 he was pastor of Queen of Apostles Church in Belmont, but he has been connected with Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish since 1989. He returned to the parish in 2007 as parochial vicar, and when he turned 75 in 2012, he was made senior priest.
Father Joe celebrated his 25th anniversary at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in 1990, so it seems fitting that now, as the parish's senior priest, he celebrates his 50th anniversary there. He will offer the vigil Mass at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21, and a reception will be held afterwards in St. Edward's Hall.
Father Joe says he has learned many valuable lessons over the past 50 years of priestly ministry:
"Three L's: keep loving your vocation, keep listening and keep learning. You come out of the seminary you think you know everything and very quickly you learn you know nothing," he jokes.
"I have always been learning, taking sabbaticals when I can, attending workshops, and I read a lot. Listening is also an extremely important part of priestly ministry, which has helped me a lot. "Keep loving your vocation and the people you minister to."
His advice to men discerning a vocation to the priesthood?
"Talk to somebody! Go to your pastor, go to a priest you know, go to your deacon, go to somebody you trust who is a good, practicing Catholic and talk to them. Keep praying and listening, too, to the discerning voice while you are trying to hear the Lord talking to you."
What does he love most about the priesthood?
"I love preaching, I love celebrating the Eucharist. And I love teaching. I am in charge of the RCIA program and am involved in the adult education in the parish. I love anything involving Catholic education and formation.
Plus, I love celebrating the Mass and preaching."
— SueAnn Howell, senior reporter
Bishop Jugis preaches at closing Mass of 40 Hours devotion for Vocation Awareness Week
CHARLOTTE — Bishop Peter J. Jugis celebrated Mass Nov. 4 at St. Patrick Cathedral to conclude a Forty Hours devotion to pray for more vocations in the Diocese of Charlotte.
The Forty Hours devotion Nov. 3-4 and the Mass commemorate the U.S. bishops' National Vocation Awareness Week, which runs this year from Nov. 1 to 7. The weeklong celebration is dedicated to promote vocations to the priesthood, diaconate and consecrated life through prayer and education, and to renew our prayers and support for those who are considering one of these particular vocations. The Diocese of Charlotte's celebration was organized in part by Father Jason Barone, the new vocations promoter for the diocese.
Hundreds of people participated in the Forty Hours devotion at the cathedral, where special kneelers were on display that will be given to the two men expected to be ordained to the holy priesthood next June. The kneelers, a project of the lay apostolate Mary's Sons, will travel throughout the diocese until then so that everyone can have the opportunity to pray for the two men – Deacon Cory Catron and Deacon David McCanless – as well as pray for an increase in religious vocations for the Church in western North Carolina.
During his homily at the Nov. 4 Mass, Bishop Jugis spoke about vocations as something God gives to each of us as a sign of His love.
"In love then He gives to each person whom He has created a special chosen vocation ... by which that person will serve Him in this world," he said.
"To some He gives the vocation to married life and parenthood. To others He gives the vocation to single life. To others the vocation to the priesthood. To others He gives the vocation to the consecrated religious life – but all comes as a gift of God."
The Mass was celebrated on the feast of St. Charles Borromeo, the patron saint of seminarians – a perfect opportunity to tie in praying for vocations and Vocation Awareness Week, he noted. St. Charles Borromeo's own personal holiness and his reforming work as a bishop in the wake of the Council of Trent serves as an example for the priesthood today. He particularly was renowned for establishing many seminaries to better train and educate men for the priesthood.
Bishop Jugis went on to explain that the vocation to the priesthood is a mystery of God's choice.
"He chooses certain individuals by His own free election to give them this special grace of following Jesus, leaving everything to follow Him. It is a mystery why He chooses some and does not choose others. Some whom we might think, judging by human standards, might be quite capable and talented to fulfill the priestly office, He overlooks and instead directs His attention to others that we might not think at that moment to be worthy of such a call," he said.
God is intimately involved in this call, he said, and young men must have the ability and openheartedness to listen to His voice. The call from God is experienced at the center of one's heart and the process of discernment has to be conducted with great reverence and seriousness, he said.
"It requires attentive listening to God's voice – in fact, a reverent listening to God's voice. That's why prayer is so essential. A seminarian has to be a man of prayer because he is engaged in that important work of reverently listening to God, who is speaking to him in the depths of his heart."
Bishop Jugis also stressed that a priest cannot be reduced to just a "functionary," someone who performs tasks or duties. "Priest" is not just a job title, as the secular world perhaps considers it.
"The priest is one who has been chosen as a sacrament instituted by Jesus, and (who has) received a special call. He is in special communication with the mystery of the divine. It is God's choice. It is God's position, the way He set up the sacrament and set up the Church hierarchically.
"The man, who in communication constantly with the mystery of the divine in his heart, has important work to do bringing mankind's needs to God. He's another Christ, he is an 'alter Christus,' he's a sacrament of Christ the high priest."
Consequently, the priest must live the humility of Christ, being humble as Jesus Himself is humble. He must also live the mercy of Christ, as Jesus Himself is merciful. He must be reverent in his approach to life and reverent in his service to others, forgetting his own needs and placing himself at the service of others because of his love for God and His people.
"This is a mystery, this is a mystery of a call from God," he reiterated, "which we know is stirring in the hearts of many teenagers and many young men in our diocese even now – as evidenced by the wonderful response we have had to our Quo Vadis Days over the last few years, and others who have approached for more counsel or more advice as they discern this call.
"And as they reverently and attentively listen to God's voice in prayer, we must also accompany them with our own prayers," he continued, "so that any obstacles that they encounter now as they partake on this journey may be removed from their lives...so that they can progress along the path of holiness and grow in their vocations."
— SueAnn Howell, senior reporter
For more
Get more resources on the priesthood in the Diocese of Charlotte or the annual Quo Vadis Days at http://www.charlottediocese.org/vocations.
To learn more about the priesthood, contact Director of Vocations Father Christopher Gober at 704-370-3327 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Diocese's first vocations promoter discusses new role
CHARLOTTE — As the Diocese of Charlotte’s new Promoter of Vocations, Father Jason Barone’s job will be encouraging people to listen to God’s will for them.
Bishop Peter Jugis named Father Barone to the new position in July, widening the diocese’s efforts to grow vocations under the leadership of the Director of Vocations, Father Christopher Gober.
God has a plan for each one of us, Bishop Jugis noted in his homily at Mass for National Vocation Awareness Week Nov. 4, and we must listen reverently to His voice so that we may discern how best to serve Him in this world. Father Barone aims to carry this message far and wide in his position as Promoter of Vocations.
The role is in addition to his other responsibilities as assistant chaplain at Charlotte Catholic High School and as parochial vicar at St. Patrick Cathedral in Charlotte.
“This position is important because by explicitly giving such an assignment to a priest, a special emphasis is being placed on the need for increased vocations,” Father Barone notes.
Father Barone already has experience organizing and leading “Quo Vadis Days,” the diocese’s annual vocations retreat for young men, as well as addressing youth at the annual Diocesan Youth Conference.
In his new role, Father Barone will continue to lead “Quo Vadis Days” as well as develop other discernment programs, including working with Sister Mary Raphael of the Daughters of the Virgin Mary to develop a future vocations retreat for young women entitled “Duc in Altum.”
He will also travel to parishes, schools and youth gatherings across the diocese to speak about vocations, and he will help organize efforts which encourage people to pray for vocations – such as the Forty Hours devotion held this week at St. Patrick Cathedral in conjunction with National Vocation Awareness Week.
The overall aim, he said, is to encourage people to discern God’s will for them in life – whether that is to a vocation to the priesthood, consecrated life, married life or single life.
“While my focus will be on the priesthood and religious life, much of my job will assist vocations to family life as well,” Father Barone noted. “There's an important teaching in Catholic theology that says ‘grace builds on nature.’ In other words, God and the supernatural life do not destroy our human nature. Supernatural virtues are built on natural virtues. A key first step in discernment is developing the natural virtues of prudence, justice, temperance and fortitude. These must be employed for both vocations of celibacy and family life.
“In short, I see my job as providing the tools and opportunity for young people to discern well, and making sure people pray that ‘the Lord of the harvest sends more laborers into His harvest.’”
Since being ordained in 2012, Father Barone has also served as parochial vicar at Our Lady of Grace Church in Greensboro and Sacred Heart Church in Salisbury. As a fairly “new” priest, how does he think his perspective on the priesthood and religious vocations may help him?
“As a priest ordained just three years, I still have a certain personal proximity to the key steps in discernment,” he replies. “Those questions were more recently on my mind and in my heart than, say, a priest of 10 or 20 years.”
And his work ministering to students at Charlotte Catholic High School will dovetail with his vocations efforts as well, he notes. “Personal contact with a priest has proven time and again to help a young person discover their vocation and pursue it successfully.”
— Catholic News Herald